Throughout gaming history, there have been many great underrated games that have fallen by the wayside, (Beyond Good & Evil and Psychonaughts come to mind) forgotten by time and gamers alike, either because of lack of advertising, being overshadowed by another bigger release or it didn't interest the general gaming public enough to sell the copies needed to make it a big hit. The Last Express is one of these games. Back in 1997, this game received literally zero advertising, leaving it to be overshadowed by pretty much anything and everything else that was released around the same time, despite receiving numerous positive reviews just before the game was released.
These poor sales did not help the game, since it had a lengthy development period, lasting a total of four years, which is lengthy even by today's standards. Making it even worse was that it was also the most expensive game developed at the time. The game's situation wasn't helped by the fact that the deals with the publishing partners fell through, leaving Broderbund to be acquired by The Learning Company, giving the game a extremely short shelf cycle, leaving the game to sell even less copies. However, over the 10+ years since the game has been released, it has drawn in a cult following, keeping the game from disappearing completely.
The Last Express takes place in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. You play as Robert Cath, an American doctor who was framed for the murder of a cop in Ireland. Robert's friend, Tyler Whitney, arranges for the both of you to escape to Istanbul on the Orient Express. (Fun Fact: In real life, this was the last trip that the Orient Express has actually taken before WWI) However, not being able to making on time, Robert boards the train by motorcycle, while the train is in motion no less. He finds his friend, Tyler, dead in his compartment, murdered. From this point on, the game becomes a murder mystery and becomes something more than it first appears.
When you start playing the game, the first thing you will notice is that the game has a very unique art style, with the entire game being done in a rotoscoping style, like the movie "A Scanner Darkly" and or the music video for A-ha's "Take On Me". While the thought of playing through an entire game is this style might get on some people's nerves and make then stop wanting to play the game immediately, it enhances the time period that the game takes place in. Because of this art style, the game manages not to look as outdated as some other games from the same time that this game was released.
The second thing you will notice is that the game's story and presentation is written in a similar style to Agatha Christie, making the game feel authentic to the time period. The game also plays like Myst with a hint of the classic Lucasarts adventure games. While playing the game, you will be entirely confined to the space on the Orient Express, giving the game a great atmosphere with a claustrophobic feel, making you feel as if you could be the one who is murdered next.
During your journey on the Orient Express, you will have to find clues and objects to help you find the person who killed your friend and stop them from escaping. The difficulty of this can range from easy, with just eavesdropping on conversations, to extremely difficult, since most of the time clues and evidence are located in places that are out of reach, such as other people's compartments, most of the time containing their owner's, all the way to parts of the train that are out of bound for the passenger's.
You will interact with these other passengers, who believe that you are Tyler Whitney, since they had yet to meet him. During these interactions, you will need to find out information about them to piece together what the character's motivation's are, their daily habits are and how they interact with each other. The game has numerous characters that are suspects, including Serbian freedom fighters, a German arms dealer, a Russian anarchist, a suspicious Austrian concert violinist, a Persian eunuch and his private harem, a mysterious art collector and many more.
The game takes place in real time, albeit sped up 6 times the regular speed (not counting time sleeping or cutscenes). This adds another dimension to the gameplay, motivating the player to not only find information quickly but to think outside the box. While this pressure might be distracting for some people, it is actually a good type of pressure, never making you feel like you have no room to move which would force you to make mistakes. A disadvantage to having this real-time mechanic is that if you miss an important event or manage your timing poorly, your pretty much screwed and have been forced into a dead end.
Fortunately, there is a "turn back the clock" feature, letting you back to past events if you mess up. Unfortunately, the points in which you can go back to are a little random in which part of the game you go back to, so be prepared to wait up to 10 minutes (with the concert scene, up to 30 minutes, but that is a one time occurrence, so don't let this stop you from playing the game) before getting to repeat your actions in the part of the game you messed up in. While this feature might be a bit annoying, it's pretty easy to overlook since it doesn't really get in your way.
During the events of the game, you get to do whatever you want to do within the limits of the game, making it very non-linear. This gives the game some replayability down the line, giving you opportunities to overhear different conversations that the characters have with each other. You should still keep you eye on the clock, because you don't want to miss the major events.
Despite it's few flaws, such as the slightly random checkpoint system or the mistakes you can make because of the real-time gameplay system in which you can miss major events or be killed, this is one of the few games from the golden era of point-and-click adventure games that really stands out and is a must play for all who enjoy the genre.
The Good:
+The game has a very unique art style, which prevents it looking as outdated as some other games from the time period.
+It feels like it was written in a similar style to Agatha Christie, giving it some authenticity.
+The "turn back the clock" feature puts you back at appropriate times in the game before you messed up.
+The "real time" mechanic gives the game some replayability, since it's easy to miss entire conversations.
The Bad:
-It's easier that it should be to make mistakes because of it's "real time" gameplay mechanic.
-The "turn back the clock" feature has one moment where it can cause you up to 30 minutes of gameplay.